(The Center Square) – Ohio National Guard troops and equipment are heading to North Carolina to help in the aftermath of devastating flooding from Hurricane Helene.
Gov. Mike DeWine’s announcement came late Monday and was followed Tuesday with news he deployed the Ohio Department of Administrative Services Multi-Agency Radio Communication System staff and public safety equipment to Asheville, North Carolina, to help with recovery efforts.
Doctors from Ohio State University Medical Center and Ohio Task Force 1 arrived in western North Carolina late Monday after being reassigned from a staging area in Orlando before the storm.
“We will continue to assist Governor Cooper and the people of western North Carolina with their urgent needs in the aftermath of this storm,” DeWine said. “Ohio is providing reliable communication equipment for first responders, which is crucial during this time.”
At least 130 people are reported dead and hundreds are still missing following the storm.
As previously reported by The Center Square, many places in the Blue Ridge Mountains have yet to be checked because of failed infrastructure, and critical aid is being rushed to survivors of the historic flooding.
Buncombe County, where Asheville is county seat, had withheld a fatality number pending notification of kin, a protocol made more troublesome by lack of power, internet and cellphones in many big pockets throughout the region.
Ohio’s radio communication system – or MARCS – is expected to help with the ongoing issues. MARCS is a wireless, digital communications network that connects Ohio first responders from multiple jurisdictions during emergencies.
The team will deploy a tower on wheels, a cache of radios, and a portable generator, along with two staff members traveling to Asheville with the Ohio Telecommunicator Emergency Response Task Force.
The 80-feet TOWs supplement coverage and add capacity to an area where an emergency or event occurs. A TOW is typically ready and operational within an hour of arriving at the scene of an emergency.
The communications support is in addition to Ohio National Guard support in the form of six soldiers and a CH47 helicopter, along with 10 additional airmen from the Homeland Response Forces 121st Air Refueling Wing to help first responders search for fatalities.
“Ohio is always ready, always there to help our fellow states in a time of need,” said Maj. Gen. John Harris Jr., Ohio adjutant general.
